The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of disaster-relief systems and more specifically relates to transportable disaster-relief generating systems for providing portable power generation and potable water producing means. The device may be used in response to an emergency or disaster to safely and sanitarily purvey water, ice, and area lighting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern societies depend greatly on power to provide electricity, communication, transportation, and food to its inhabitants. As society continues to technologically evolve, human beings become increasingly more reliant on power and electricity. Power and power generation remains the constant variable that fuels infrastructure of modern society. This is true even to the point where bare necessities such as food and water are produced and sustained by power.
Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, wars and other disastrous events often yield cataclysmic results, including mass power outages. Without power, a large population of people lose access to light, clean water, and other essential resources. In the aftermath of a national disaster, emergency, or crisis, the haste in which relief arrives to those in need can never be quick enough.
Generators may be used to generate power and may provide temporary powering means; however a small portion of inhabitants have access to such equipment. Typically, portable generators are not large enough to supply the power demand of many individuals and fuel may not be available during power outages/emergency situations.
Potable water is often needed to revitalize those who are dehydrated in the wake of a disaster such as a flood, earthquake, or terrorist attack. Many times when a disaster strikes, existing potable water sources are contaminated resulting in danger to individuals that may consume such water. Typically, purifying water by the consumer is a slow process that is not readily available or feasible to supply a mass of people. Individuals who are left without means of food preservation and clean water for extended periods of time may become very ill, and may die.
Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. No. and Pub. Nos. 6,289,684; 2006/0257258; 2006/0113251; 6,936,176; 7,089,763 and 6,464,884. This prior art is representative of transportable power generating systems, water purification systems, and multi-functional disaster units. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.
Ideally, a transportable disaster-relief generating system should be readily transportable via a highway accessible vehicle (or air-lift means) and would operate reliably, yet be manufactured at a reasonable expense. Thus, a need exists for a reliable natural disaster relief generating system to generate power, provide access to the power, purify and provide potable water from a non-potable water source, produce fragmented or flake ice utilizing purified water, all within a single enclosure for transport, and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.